YTC LEAD

The College and our surrounding environment is constantly changing. I have said many times that we must continuously evaluate the way we do business in order to thrive in today’s economy. The reVIEW program and the Operations Excellence (OpEx) program both support our efforts to evaluate and improve our business processes. We all have a part in the improvement process! However, in order to truly transform the organization into the best it can be, we must transform ourselves into better leaders. We all have the opportunity and responsibility to make a difference. One of the many books I have read, The Leadership Challenge, summarizes the patterns of behavior in individuals who exhibit exemplary leadership.

• Model the Way – Establish principles concerning the way people should be treated and the way goals should be pursued
• Inspire a Shared Vision –Passionately believe you can make a difference
• Challenge the Process – Search for opportunities to change the status quo
• Enable Others to Act – Foster collaboration and build spirited teams
• Encourage the Heart – Recognize contributions that individuals make

Regardless of your position in the organization, I believe we can all work on the behaviors mentioned above in order to Be Real, Be Bold, and Be Better – for ourselves, our coworkers, our partners, and for our students! To assist in this endeavor, we launched the YTC LEAD program in December and will be offering a leadership speakers series for all employees in the near future. The YTC LEAD inaugural cohort includes Jyron Baxter, Ivan Lowe, John McGill, Mike Brumbach, Jamey Abercrombie, Chris Cimino, Nikisha Dawkins, Brenda Odom, Ginger Dewey, Michele Wells, Michael McAllister, and Stacy Scott. I’d like to thank Edwina Roseboro-Barnes, Kathy Hoellen, Monique Perry, and Laura Sturgis for helping develop the YTC LEAD program.

Just as a reminder, one of our strategic themes, Organizational Development, resulted from the 650 inputs received from faculty and staff. I believe the YTC LEAD program, among other professional development opportunities, will help better support our efforts to be better than we have to be. Remember – organizations do nothing, technology does nothing, PEOPLE do everything!

The winner is......




"Urban Unity"

 Last year, artists and designers across the nation submitted their work to be considered as one of the official posters for the 2012 Democratic National Convention. After 400 submissions and over 26,000 votes, the winner was announced recently by the mayor of Charlotte, Anthony Foxx. I am delighted to tell you that our very own Steve Ward is the winner of the official poster contest for the 2012 Democratic National Convention. Steve is a digital design instructor at York Tech and a graduate from UNC-Charlotte. His poster titled “Urban Unity” shows the Charlotte skyline and with clasping hands showing the importance of people coming together for a common cause. We are very proud of Steve and his accomplishment!

“Urban Unity” was designed to celebrate diversity. We all have different political, economic, and religious views, but that's what makes this country so special. Too often political arenas are used to shun other's way of thinking and promote their own. We should all come together, unified, with ears and minds open. Steve Ward

QEP Impact Report Accepted!

I am proud to announce that the Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) Impact Report submitted to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACS COC) in the fall of 2011 has been accepted! The Committee reviewing the report noted, “The Quality Enhancement Plan Impact Report adequately and appropriately addressed all the required elements in the Report. The QEP dealt with critical thinking across the curriculum. The project was an ambitious undertaking, with strong institutional buy-in. The assessments of the outcomes were adequately documented and on target. The institution is to be applauded for the success and the commitment to the QEP.”

We could not have asked for a better response. I want to thank Dr. Jack Bagwell and Taunya Paul for their leadership and the ACTiON Team members Chris Cimino, Martin Grant, Ed Moore, Shelly Myers, Sue Tatro, and Michele Wells for all their hard work on the QEP initiatives! All faculty and staff are to be commended for a job well done for their work on improving students’ critical thinking skills as part of the QEP!

A Place to Gather.....



Before



Have you seen our new outdoor space on campus? If you haven’t had a chance, please stop by the area between A-building and B-building at your convenience. In our desire to create a more inviting campus, a beautifully landscaped outdoor space, with tables, chairs, and umbrellas, has been established for faculty, staff, and students to gather, learn, socialize, and eat. Your feedback in the planning process helped bring this concept to fruition.



 

After

The reality of this outdoor space is just the beginning of Phase I of the Campus Master Plan. The Plan also establishes a Learning Commons that will essentially serve as the hub of campus and will house the library, bookstore, learning support, private study areas, group collaboration areas, and a substantial food service operation. The purpose of the Learning Commons is to create an atmosphere of community and a place for students and employees to gather.



I will keep you abreast as we move forward on Phase 1 of the Campus Master Plan. Enjoy our new outdoor gathering space!

Accelerate Student Success

Last week, I had the pleasure of meeting with the Acceleration Team. At our first meeting we had a very open and honest conversation around the input received from the all-faculty August 22 meeting. My goal in this process is to listen, ask questions, and to the best of my ability fully understand perspectives so that I can better communicate with other faculty and staff. The Team will continue to meet over the next couple of months to further explore strategies and tools we can use to further our goal of Maximizing Student Success and to address the following research question: How can we (as an institution) accelerate student success through the classroom experience without adding additional work to faculty? The Team will be looking for your perspectives on issues that we discuss in our meetings, as well. Members of the Acceleration Team, appointed by peers, include:

Pete Baldwin - Business, Computer, Arts, and Sciences (BCAS)
Jonathon Stewart - Industrial and Engineering Technologies (IET)
Debbie Tertinger - Health and Human Services (HHS)
Krista Bradshaw – Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL)
Linda Bolick - Corporation and Continuing Education (CCE)
Steven Rast - Adjunct Faculty
Sally Herlong and Kerri McGuire - Student Services (SS)

Acceleration Team

On August 22, I met with faculty to talk candidly about student success. I asked faculty for input related to the following four questions:

• What are the top three challenges you face as faculty members in trying to pursue student success?
• How do we best measure student performance?
• If you were on my board, what criteria would you use to measure my performance?
• How do you believe your performance should be measured?

I want to thank all of the faculty for participating in the faculty meeting. As a follow-up, a 90-day Acceleration Team will be created whose goal will be to gain a deeper understanding of the feedback received and to identify value-added actionable and sustainable strategies that maximize classroom time and directly impact student success. Classroom instruction is the most influential time we have with our students. We must have an unrelenting focus on maximizing every moment of instructional time. The Acceleration Team will research and make recommendations to address the following research questions: How can we (as an institution) accelerate student success through the classroom experience without adding additional work to faculty? The Acceleration Team’s outcomes will be presented to the Executive Committee and Council for Academic and Student Affairs (CASA). The Team will consist of faculty (teaching) from the BCAS, CCE, HHS, and IET divisions. The Student Services and Center for Teaching and Learning staff are a vital part of supporting our student success efforts in the classroom and will be involved as well. However, this will be a faculty driven Team.  Faculty from each division will appoint one faculty member from their respective division (BCAS, CCE, HHS, and IET) by November 29. Additional faculty may be appointed at a later time to further represent the divisions.

Team members must exhibit a high level of maturity and critical thinking and must be able to exemplify the following principles:

• Be proactive versus reactive
• Focus on responsibility versus blame
• Listen first to understand before being understood
• Focus on growing circle of influence, not circle of concern
• Agree to disagree and seek win/win agreement
• Apply the abundance mentality versus scarcity
• Be innovative
• Build meaningful professional relationships

Team members will be asked to seek and gain understanding of their own perspectives, perspectives of the workplace, and the community of practice through specific readings, viewings, and other data points relevant to the discovery process. Team members will be required to develop and deliver powerful and concise presentations to solicit feedback regarding the proposed recommendations/outcomes. The Acceleration Team will begin meeting the first week of December and will meet at various times over the 90-day period which will conclude in late February or early March.

I look forward to working with the Team through the discovery process to learn what strategies and tools we can use to further our goal of Maximizing Student Success.

Student Success and Financial Goals

As you review our Student Success Rates graph, notice that we are making progress towards achieving our stretch goal of 70 percent fall to fall retention. Our new goal for next year is 62 percent for fall to fall. We all have a part in achieving this goal - from the employees that help beautify our campus, to the employees that provide student support services, to the faculty that engage our students every day in the classroom. We have achieved so much since our planning sessions in 2007-2008. If you look at your input from those sessions, you can really see the progress we have made. However, there is much to be done and I know we can achieve even greater things together.

I am excited to have Dr. Julie Phelps, mathematics instructor and project director for Achieve the Dream at Valencia College, to speak to us at our annual employee recognition luncheon on December 20. Dr. Phelps has studied ways to increase student engagement, learning, retention, and graduation among developmental education students. The December 20 meeting will begin at 10 a.m. for all faculty and staff and a special faculty session will be held after lunch. More information about her visit will be sent via e-mail. Please save the date – December 20!

I previously mentioned a financial goal too. As we create greater efficiencies and effectiveness, we should improve our financials too. We have set a goal of $1.5 million in addition to net assets by June 30, 2012. We have developed a financial model that projects the College will need $76 million over the next five years in order to meet our future programming needs, IT infrastructure, deferred maintenance, and phase I and II of the Campus Master Plan. We must continue to reevaluate our business processes and work smarter in order to achieve greater efficiencies to meet our financial goals.

Job placement rates are becoming increasingly important for us to use as a measure of success. For the past three years, we have scored below the system average. This year, we will evaluate our current tracking mechanisms and will set a goal next year.

Again, I am grateful for all your hard work and ask you to Be Real, Be Bold, and Be Better! Remember, organizations do nothing, plans do nothing, technology does nothing, people do everything!